Infant&#39;s garment



June 13, 1950 H. R. RYAN INFANTS GARMENT Filed May 1, 1.948

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IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY Patented June 13, 1950 IN FAN TS GARMENT Harriet B. Ryan,Durham, N. H.', assignor to The William Carter Company, Needham Heights,Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 1, 1948, Serial No.24,540

3 Claims.

This invention relates to infants garments adapted for wear bydiaper-age children.

The invention has for a principal object the provision in an infantsshirt-type garment formed of knit material of construction permitting adiaper to be attached to the shirt by conventional safety-pins withoutpassing the pins through the knit material, thus avoiding damage to theknit body fabric of the shirt through repeated piercing of the knitmaterial by safety pins. A further object is to provide a garmentwherein such attachment of the diaper to the shirt by safety-pins willnot interfere with the orderly fit of the shirt extending downwardly ofthe child's body and over the underlying diaper. A further main objectof the invention is'to provide a garment wherein the knit fabric of thebody portion of the garment is relieved not only from the destructiveaction of safety pins which are anchored in the knit material itself,but also from destructive hole-producing effects of stresses set up bytensions produced by the childs activity and transmitted to the knitshirt fabric through the points of attachment of the diaper to theshirt.

These and other objects of the invention and the advantages thereof willin part be more fully related and in part be apparent from the followingdescription of one embodiment of the invention which is shown in theaccompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a front view of a garment of theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a detail cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig.1; and

Fig. 3 is an interior detail view of the front section of the garmentshown in Fig. 1 and taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 includes a representation of a commercially available type ofinfants shirt having added thereto the structure of the presentinvention. The shoulder and arm construction shown is similar to thatdescribed in U. S.

Patent No. 2,035,377, and reference is made to said patent for acomplete description of the illustrated shoulder and arm constructionwhich forms no part of this invention but is used merely as illustrativeof one type of shirt wherein the present invention may be used toadvantage.

For the purposes of a description of this invention it will sufifice topoint out that the body portion of the shirt of Fig. 1, is formed whollyof small gauge tubular knit fabric, for example, of cotton or of amixture of cotton with wool, rayon or other yarn. Because of theinherent .2 nature of knit fabric; the large, sharp safetypins that arerecommended for diaper use tend to rupture the yarn and weaken it ifpassed repeatedly directly throughthe fabric.

and transmitted directlyfrom the diaper to the shirt through thesafety-pimcause eventual tearing of the yarn with the development ofholes mothers have encountered this drawback, and their complainthave-led to the add-itionof knit fabric reinforcing patches by somemanufacturers. However, these patches are not a cure and merely extendto some degree the life of the underlying fabric.

In accordance with this invention, I provide on either side of thecenter line of the front panel In of the garment two internal tabs [2and I4. Each of these tabs is preferably formed of a strip of wovenfabric looped over on itself with the free ends extending upwardly intothe waistline zone and the looped portion extending downwardly as shownin Fig. 2 to a point short of the bottom of the garment. The upper freeends of the tabs l2 and M are brought into face-to-face relation andstitched by through-and-through stitching to the inside of the knit bodyfabric along substantial circular lines of stitching l5 having adiameter substantially equivalent to the width of the woven fabricstrips l2 and I 4. To improve the finish the upper edges of the wovenstrips 12 and I! are rounded as shown to follow generally the contour ofthe lines of stitching l6.

Among the advanta es of this construction it will be seen that thelooped portions of the tabs l2 and I4 provide adequate areas of cloth toreceive and retain the safety-pins at either side of the diaper. Becausethe tabs are on the inside of the shirt the marginal lower portion ofthe shirt below the stitching 16 may be pulled downwardly and smoothlyover the underlying diaper and yet the safety-pins are readilyaccessible by pulling up the marginal portion of the shirt; thesafety-pins need never be placed through the knit fabric of the bodyportion l0. Lastly, because of the non-rectilinear contour of thestitching l6 any stresses which are transmitted from the diaper throughthe safety-pins to the tabs l2 or I4 and thence to the shirt, aredistributed by the stitching [6 in a non-rectilinear manner so that thepull will not be concentrated on any one loop or strand section of theknit fabric yarn. In extensive wear tests, it has been demonstrated thatthe non-rectilinear circular In addi-' tion, the stresses set up byactivity of'the child stitching definitely retards the development ofholes and destruction of the knit fabric.

A highly improved infants shirt adapted for use Where doctors recommendsafety-pin attachment between shirt and diaper i thus provided.

I claim:

1. An infants garment adapted for the attachment of diapers: thereto;comprising, in combination with a finished body portion of knit fabrichaving the wales thereof extending vertically of said garment, a pair ofdiaper-attaching tabs, one;

on either side of the front center line. of the garment, each formed ofa narrow strip offabri'c extending upwardly insidethega-nment tothe;waistline zone only, the lower ends oil said: tabs being unattached tosaid body portiorr, the upper ends of said tabs being anchored inside.the body portion in the waistline zone by substantially completelynon-rectilinear lines of stitching. extending through-and-tlrrough saidbody fabric and upper tab ends and adapted to distribute stressestransmitted to said i knit fabric from said tabs through said; stitchingover a'substantial number of said wales,- tominimize; hole-forming;concentration of tension, at localized Wales of said body-portion knitfabric;

2.. Art infants garment adapted for-the attachmerit of diapers thereto:comprising, in combination with a finished bod y DOIlt'ziOIlaOf knitfabric having the walesthereofi extending verticallyof said garment,a'pair: of diaper-attachingttabs-,; oneon either side oi the frontcenter line of the garment, each formed of a narrow strip of fabricextending upwardly inside the garment to the waistline zone only, thelower ends of said tabs being unattached to said body portion, the upperends of said tabs being anchored inside the body portion in thewaistline zone by substantially circular lines of stitching extendingthrough-andthrough. said bodyfabric and upper tab ends and adapted to"distribute stresses transmitted to said knit fabric from said tabsthrough said stitching over a substantial number of said wales tohole-forming concentration of tension at localized wales of said bodyportion knit fabric. 3. An infants garment as claimed in claim 2,wherein each circular line of stitching has a diameter substantiallyequivalent to the width of the tabwhich itanchors.

' HARRIET R. RYAN.

REFERENCES CITED The. following references are of record in the file ofthis patent? 2,035,052 Dar1ing, Mar. 24, 1936

